Noema
Michael Swann
Kult Books
Language
Hardcover
176 pages
150 x 210 mm
2024
ISBN 9789198760682
In 1961, in the small Spanish village of San Sebastian de Garabandal, four young girls had an apparition of the Virgin Mary. They entered a state of ecstasy in which they became completely unaware of their surroundings and sensory perceptions. Reportedly, witnesses would pinch the girls, pierce their skin with needles, lift them up and drop them onto rough rocks, and yet they remained entranced. The light and presence of the Virgin are all they claim to have experienced. Twenty years later, in the town of Medjugorje, in Bosnia & Herzegovina, six children also had simultaneous visions of the Virgin, with similar ecstatic qualities.
In his debut book Noema, Michael Swann investigates the aura of place and religious experience by searching for signs of the Virgin Mary’s presence in these two locations. Alongside original photographs made at both sites, Noema also includes images that have been appropriated from video footage of the visionaries taken during their apparitions. These emphasise the impenetrability of the individual religious and phenomenological experience, and speak to the separation between what is apparently being seen and what is photographable.
(Source: kultbooks.com/books/noema)
About the Artist
Michael Swann is a photographic artist based in Bristol (UK). In 2020, he was selected as one of BJP’s Ones to Watch and nominated for the Futures Photography talent platform. Michael’s first book, Noema was published in 2024 by Kult Books.
Michael’s latest body of work, An Ascension, explores themes of hope, love, queerness and the influence of catholicism through his engagement to his same-sex partner. His previous body of work, Noema, follows the search for the presence of the Virgin Mary in two locations in which she has reportedly been seen. Michael is also currently working on a collaborative project, Compost, with photographer Phillipa Klaiber, that explores the central themes of Queer Ecology.
www.michaelswann.co.uk/
(Source: www.michaelswann.co.uk/about)
About the Publisher
Kult Books is an independent publishing project for photography and other lens-based visual arts founded by Janne Riikonen in Stockholm, Sweden. Kult Books publishes monographs and artist books that embrace a personal artistic vision and visual language. The publications are created in close collaboration with the artists, the physical form designed to support the concept of the work.
https://kultbooks.com
(Source: https://kultbooks.com/about)
